House Transportation Committee to Vote on Highway Proposal

The U.S. House Transportation Committee may vote on its version of legislation to reauthorize surface-transportation programs on Feb. 2, according to three people familiar with the matter.

The committee also won a commitment from House leaders for the full House to debate the bill in February. Transportation industry officials will be briefed on Jan. 26, the people said.

U.S. surface transportation programs have operated under periodic extensions of the legislation that was set to expire in 2009, with the current authorization ending on March 31. A Senate version of the measure was approved by the Environment and Public Works Committee in November.

Both bills would need to find additional funding to prevent cuts in highway, bridge and transit projects, the committees have said.

To contact the reporters on this story: Carol Wolf in Washington at cwolf@bloomberg.net; Lisa Caruso in Washington at lcaruso7@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Bernard Kohn at bkohn2@bloomberg.net